The morning of the Quidditch final is overcast with dull, grey, heavy clouds. Lily, looking out her dormitory room window, scowls a bit at it.

"Don't worry. The clouds will burn off before the match," Glynis says, from across the room and without so much as a glance at the window, and in that cheerfully sure way she has of being certain of things she can't possibly be certain of.

Glynis is almost invariably correct, however, about things she says in that particular manner, so Lily turns her attention away from the sky and to the three of her roommates who aren't on the Quidditch team. Cliona was gone when Lily woke up, though whether there actually was some sort of planned dawn team meeting or she just couldn't sleep, Lily doesn't know.

She is not, however, at all surprised to discover that while the Gryffindor common room is practically vibrating with energy and the hum of voices, there's no sign of Cliona, James, or their teammates.

They've been fairly scarce these last few weeks, as the final gets closer and the practices get longer. Lily has mostly seen her boyfriend in classes, at meals, and on the handful of occasions they've managed to be in the common room at the same time. (And if Lily has, once or twice, taken advantage of those occasions to slip completed copies of some of the more time-consuming Potions assignments into James' bag, well, what of it?)

But it's finally here, the last match of the year, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, with the Quidditch Cup on the line. One way or the other, it'll be over and done with in a few hours.

It's felt different this year than it did last year, the run-up to the final game. Partly because, while Gryffindor and Ravenclaw both want to win (and both can reasonably expect to), and while each house is perfectly capable of being a bit snide about the other when the occasion calls for it, it's not like it is with Gryffindor and Slytherin (but then, what it?). And partly because, Lily thinks, it's all so different between her and James this year. There's been no grand promise to win the Quidditch Cup for her this time around, and she's glad. Because the game has enough riding on it in and of itself, and because while Lily definitely wants James to win, she wants James to win for himself and his teammates and Gryffindor. Not for her.

The clouds have, as predicted by Glynis, burned off by the time the students reach the stands and it's a perfect day for a Qudditch game. Lily takes a spot between Mary and Remus, which cannot properly be called a seat because none of them do all that much sitting during the match. It's not the sort of match you sit through.

Because it is, as the teams mount their brooms and the Snitch darts out of sight, really and truly anyone's game. Gryfindor and Ravenclaw are fielding incredibly good and evenly matched teams. Gryffindor has the better Chasers (of course), but Ravenclaw has the more accomplished keeper. If Ravenclaw has more precise Beaters, Gryffindor has more creative ones, and both teams use the Bludgers very effectively. And as for the Chasers . . . Raquel Clayworth and Ellery West are often little more than blurs of red and blue (respectively), weaving in and out of twelve other players, a referee, and three darting balls in pursuit of what appears to be a particularly elusive Snitch.

It's not just a good game, it's a great one, one for the record books, and so good in fact that Lily keeps finding herself watching the game instead of watching James. (And watching James is easily one of her very favorite ways to spend her time these days.) The team trades goals, and the lead, and the occasional foul for the better part of four hours. And the students watching the match cheer and gasp and occasionally hold their breath.

And like all great Quidditch matches, it ends abruptly and spectacularly, with Raquel Clayworth diving fifty feet almost impossibly vertically to close her hand around the Snitch. And there's a proper explosion of noise Gryffindor's end of the stands, and no one actually hears the announcement that Gryffindor has won 470-310.

But that's exactly what they've done.

James, Quaffle still in hand, spins 270 degrees in the air and looks straight at Lily -- never mind the distance from him to her -- with the Jamesiest of all Jamesish smiles. And for one second, Lily thinks her knees might have forgotten how to work.

Then James vanishes into a scarlet-clad, multi-armed, tangled mid-air hug of Quidditch players.

"Come on," Remus says, pulling her attention back to her immediate area. "We should move away from Sirius before we hear any plans for this evening's celebration which we cannot, as prefects, condone."

(And if that takes them down closer to the field and the players, well, again, what of it? There are congratulations to give, after all.)

"Nobody's going to sleep tonight, are they?" Lily asks, as they weave their way through a sea of cheering Gryffindors.

"Not a chance," Remus says.

Because Gryffindor -- and James -- just won the Cup.

And a celebration is definitely in order.

Lily Evans' seventeenth birthday begins with an enormous party in the Gryffindor common room.

Of course, this party has nothing at all to do with Lily's birthday. It has, in fact, been going on for several hours when Lily's birthday begins, because Gryffidor had completely annihilated Slytherin in their Quidditch match. (Final score: 390 to 80, meaning Gryffindor would have won even if Raquel Clayworth hadn't beat Regulus Black to the Snitch, which she did, with a little help from some remarkably accurate Bludger batting by Sebastian Edeson. Word is that Regulus Black might have a broken nose. Again.)

And any Gryffindor victory requires a party, but that kind of victory, and over Slytherin requires a party. One that James is more or less stuck at the center of, as Captain and Star Chaser. Occasionally, he manages to escape his friends and fans and admirers long enough to talk to his girlfriend for a few moments, and the rest of the time, Lily is more or less gracious about having to share him with the rest of their House.

(Well, all right, so Serena Keddle might have had a little help spilling that butterbeer all down the front of her dress and fleeing in mortification, but, honestly, the whole giggle-and-hair-toss routine was annoying enough when James wasn't actually dating anyone. Now that he is ... )

It's a very nice way to begin a birthday, even though, looking at her watch at two past midnight, Lily suspects she's the only person in Gryffindor Tower who realizes it's the thirtieth already.

But of course she's wrong about that, because she's barely finished the thought when someone says, "Happy Birthday, Lily," from just behind her right shoulder, and she turns to find James there, with one of those very Jamesish smiles of his. It doesn't quite surprise her at all, not really, that he's been watching the clock all through his party for his win, so he can be the first person to wish her a happy birthday.

There's another party on Sunday, smaller and quieter and properly for Lily's birthday, with her roommates and James', after lunch (when they've all had the morning to recover from the late night before). James takes over the chairs in front of the fireplace (running off a couple of second years) and produces a cake that he no doubt talked Milty into making for him and a small box wrapped in gold paper.

"It's from all of us," James says.

"Even Sirius," Cliona puts in, cheerfully.

"Oy," Black objects, from the chair farthest from Lily's.

Lily opens the box to find a deep gold, oval-shaped locket on a long chain. There's a delicate, almost lace-like etching of links around the perimeter. It's got the same look as the hairpin she wears more days than not: simple, elegant, well-made -- James' style.

"It's a tradition," Perdita says, and Lily forces her attention from the locket to her friend. "When a witch turns seventeen, she gets a locket."

"Just like a wizard gets a watch," Peter adds.

"It's usually from your parents, but we didn't know that they would know," Glynis says.

"So James had the idea that we should do it," Remus says.

"It's beautiful," Lily says, carefully lifting it from the box. "Thank you." She's a little overwhelmed. "All of you."

"Open it," Mary says.

It takes Lily a second to find the rather cleverly hidden latch on the side. When she does, though, she finds tiny pictures of her parents looking up at her. And, small as they are, she can tell they're wizarding photographs, because the smiles shift a little, and they keep blinking.

Lily looks at James, stunned. "How on Earth did you ... ?"

"It was easy," says James with a grin. "Honestly, it didn't take much to get your parents involved; they were happy to do it. Just a quick trip out, a couple of bent rules and a prefect on our side." He exchanges a glance with Remus, who smiles innocently.

"Can't have an empty locket after all," Cliona says. "And it'll keep expanding, too," she adds, demonstrating with her own locket, which opens like an accordian, to reveal pictures of her parents, her sister, all her brothers, and her niece. "How ever many spaces you need or want, later."

"It's perfect," Lily says, slipping the chain over her head, then looking down at the locket again. "It's just perfect. Thank you."

Sirius clears his throat loudly and straightens. "Right, well. Now that that's done, can the lot of you stop acting like a bunch of girls and get on with the cake?"

"Lily?"

"Hmmm?" Lily says, looking up from her Transfiguration book (which she is far busier doodling James' name on than actually reading) to see a rather worried expression on Glynis' face. Lily closes the book and sits up a little straighter.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Glynis asks. She glances back over her shoulder to the other side of the room, where Perdita is doing a terrible job of pretending to read a magazine. "In private?"

"Yeah, of course," Lily says, with an effort to keep her own worry off her face and out of her tone.

Because there are any number of things Glynis could want to talk to her about but not discuss with Perdita. It's just that most of the ones that present themselves to Lily's brain fall squarely into the category of Not Good: illnesses, family crises, observations about the monthly cycle of one Remus Lupin ...

"Yeah," Lily says, again, standing. "We'll be back," she adds, casually as she can, to Perdita.

There aren't a lot of places in Hogwarts to have a truly private conversation on a Wednesday evening. Lily's initial thought that "in private" was a polite way of saying "not in front of Perdita" is proved wrong when Glynis heads straight across the common room and out the portrait hole without so much as glancing around to see if there are any free seats.

Lily frowns, following her.

They're not really out of bounds, and it's not too late for them to be out, and even if either of those things were true, Lily is still a prefect, but this is not typical Glynis behavior, and whatever it is must be very serious indeed.

They wind up in the Astronomy classroom. Glynis paces back and forth for a moment, while Lily sits on top of one of the desks in the front row. Finally, Lily says, "Glyn? Is something wrong?"

"No," Glynis says. "Well, maybe. I don't know. I don't think so, but ... "

"What's ... ?"

"Jeremy asked me out," Glynis says, and it comes out too fast and almost like it escaped from her.

"What?" Lily blinks, because she'd been half-expecting Glynis to tell her she's dying of dragon pox at this point, and boy-related angst is ... surprising.

"Jeremy asked me out today," Glynis says, more slowly. "After Ancient Runes this morning."

"Jeremy? Jeremy Flourish?" Lily asks.

"Well, yes, of course," Glynis says. "He's the only Jeremy in our year, isn't he?"

"Yes, but there's Jeremy What's-His-Name in seventh year."

Glynis looks faintly horrified. "Witte," she says, "and he's in Slytherin. Why would a Slytherin be asking me out?"

"Fair," Lily says, "but ... well, Jeremy Flourish doesn't exactly seem to warrant this level of your looking upset."

"But he's your ex-boyfriend," Glynis says. "And you just don't go out on dates with your friends' ex-boyfriends."

Oh, that's what this is about. Lily just barely keeps from sighing with relief, and turns her attention to taking the actual problem (such as it kind of isn't) as seriously as possible.

"Is that what you told him?" Lily asks.

Glynis sighs and sits down on the desk next to Lily. "I told him I'd give him an answer tomorrow."

"All right," Lily says, "so ... d'you want to go out with him?"

"He's your ex-boyfriend," Glynis says again.

"Yeah, key part of that phrase being 'ex'," Lily says. "Look, Glyn, I broke up with Jeremy after dating him for a handful of weeks nearly a year ago, and I'm going out with someone else now. I don't have any claim on him, and I don't want any claim on him. It's very kind of you to check with me, but if you want to go out with Jeremy, don't let me be the reason you don't."

Glynis nods.

"So ... d'you want to?" Lily asks.

Glynis' cheeks turn faintly pink and she nods again. "I really do."

"Then you should," Lily says. "He's sweet and he's smart and he's got gorgeous eyes and he's one of the few boys in this school I think could even close to deserving you."

Glynis laughs, just a little. "And you really don't mind?"

"I really and truly don't mind," Lily says. "I promise."

Glynis nods. "All right."

"Now if James had asked you out," Lily continues, in a mock-thoughtful tone, "then we'd have a problem."

Glynis shakes her head. "That would never happen. I don't think James Potter even sees the rest of us when you're around."

It's Lily's turn to blush slightly. "Well, we're not here to talk about James," she says. "So, tell me everything ... "

Glynis and Jeremy Flourish.

Not a pair Lily would exactly have expected but ...

Well, why not?

There's is still a part of her that wants to go to Dumbledore and tell him everything.

There's even a part of her that thinks (or maybe knows) that that is exactly what she should do.

Because what James and the others are doing is, in Lily's perhaps not entirely objective opinion, the most stupidly dangerous thing she's ever heard of anyone doing anywhere.

And no matter what James said, she's not sure it's necessary. She's quite sure that Dumbledore knows Remus is a werewolf and no doubt came up with thoroughly sufficient precautions to make sure he didn't run off and murder someone every full moon. And it seems arrogant -- maybe even toerag levels of arrogant -- to assume that a bunch of half-trained Hogwarts students are better equipped to deal with this than the Headmaster.

Werewolves may prefer to target humans, but Lily's fairly certain a wolf can rip a deer's throat out if it is so inclined.

Really, is it too much to ask that if he has to do this, James turn into some kind of carnivore?

So, yes, she ought to go to Dumbledore, tell him everything, and put a stop to all this before Peter Pettigrew comes running up to the castle some morning, shaky and pale and wide-eyed and says that Remus-the-wolf has killed James-the-stag.

In fact, the only way she talks herself out of telling Dumbledore that first night is the lateness of the hour. It's nearly midnight by the time she finishes alternately resolutely ignoring and obsessively evaluating her options here, and since it's still a week till the full moon, there's no point in disturbing everyone in the middle of the night.

Monday morning, she can almost convince herself that she dreamed the whole crazy thing. After all, Peter got a D on his Transfiguration OWL and could barely transfigure a biscuit into a bumblebee, so it's hard to believe he could turn himself into a rat.

Except that things with James are just a little ... off-kilter. It's not exactly awkward, it's certainly not uncomfortable, but there's a certain level of ... of cautiousness. Like he's paying just a little more attention to her than usual, or maybe it's just a slightly different kind of attention. More ... watchful.

She thinks that's the word she wants.

Watchful.

Neither of them mentions their talk in the Clock Tower, but that night she beats him at chess, easily and for the first time, and she wonders if it's because his mind's not entirely in the game or if it's some kind of apology in the weird non-language of boys.

It's not that she doesn't trust James, because she does. She can certainly appreciate how much he must trust her, to tell her all this. And, perhaps more significantly, to do so without extracting any kind of promise that she'll keep it all a secret, just an assumption that she will.

It's just that James can think things are eminently reasonable that are a little ... daring. Perhaps even foolhardy. She might go as far as reckless. Black's involvement doesn't help, because while James is reckless, Lily has occasionally wondered how Black managed to survive childhood. Or First Year. Or Second. Or ... well, you get the idea.

Remus, though ... Remus is someone Lily knows to be cautious and thoughtful and slightly less impulsive than his friends. He's someone Dumbledore trusts enough to give him the same shiny silver badge she has, after all. He knows far more about the situation than she does, or really than she ever could (if even less objective about it than she is). So Lily decides, somewhere around the time Monday becomes Tuesday, that if Remus is going along with this, if he's allowing it, then he must be reasonably certain of his own and his friends' safety. Even if she's frequently called his ability to influence the others at all into question, for something like this, with the stakes as high as they are, surely he'd put an end to it if it really were as dangerous as it sounds to Lily.

(Years from now, shortly before Harry is born, she and Remus will get onto this subject one afternoon, and he'll tell her about the guilt and the misgivings and the worry he ignored each month at Hogwarts. It will be the first, last, and only time Lily ever slaps him. But that's years from now.)

Besides, she has told James that she won't say anything. And she meant that. It's not her secret.

So she won't say anything about the Secret Animagi of Gryffindor Tower.

James stays watchful for another day or two, but by Friday he's back to flirting with her at lunch and beating her at chess, and on Saturday they finally make it into Hogsmeade on their first not-at-Hogwarts date. They wander in and out of shops, where Lily does some of her Christmas shopping and James insists on carrying her bags. They wind up at a crowded table with their friends at the Three Broomsticks.

It starts to feel like just one of those things about James that make him, well, James. He's a Gryffindor, and a Quidditch player, and an amazing kisser, and a bit of a showoff. He's got messy black hair, and beautiful hands, and a smile that could make gardenias bloom, and glasses that he wears because he's horribly farsighted. He's fiercely loyal, and frightfully clever, and devastatingly charming, and maybe just the tiniest bit mad. And, once a month, he turns himself into a stag, to keep his werewolf best friend company during the full moon.

But it's very hard to see that last as 'just one of those things about James' on Monday evening. If you can even really call it an 'evening.' It's nearly the Solstice and they're so far north. The day is short, the sun sets early and the full moon is waiting.

Lily sits in window in her room, with her knees drawn up to her chin. Her view is mostly of the lake, though she can see one small part of the Grounds that she'd expect people to pass through on their way to the Whomping Willow. She's been sitting and watching for maybe half an hour when she finally sees three figures, wrapped in cloaks and moving quickly, headed away from the castle.

After that, she discovers that she had no business using the word 'finally' after only half an hour.

She manages to at least hold her Charms book to make it look like she's revising, while her roommates are still awake. "The moon's full, there's plenty of light, I'm be fine," she tells Glynis, when Glynis asks if she wants a candle. "I won't be up much longer," Lily adds. "I just want to finish this chapter." Glynis looks at her for a second and then nods.

After they've fallen asleep, Lily gives up the pretense of the book and just sits in the window, wrapped in one of the blankets from her bed. She watches the moon make its way across the sky and watches its reflection make its way across the lake. It's a very clear, very still night.

And it's long. It's very, very long.

Finally (and this time, she thinks the word is earned), the moon sinks out of view and the eastern edge of the sky begins to grow lighter.

Some time after that, four figures make their way across that same bit of the Grounds, moving more slowly than the group that left.

Lily sighs, and slides down out of the window.

Her roommates will start to wake up soon.

Lily throws the covers back on her bed (so that it won't be completely obvious she hasn't slept at all, or even tried to) and then very, very quietly opens her trunk, lifts the trap door, and climbs down to the door to Milliways.

With any luck, she can get enough of a nap to make it through her classes today.

Lily lets herself into her dorm room very quietly, expecting that at least some of her roommates will have turned in for the evening, only to find that she needn't have bothered.

Not only are none of her roommates in bed already, the only one there at all is Glynis, who is directing her wand in the hemming of a skirt. Glynis grins at her, and then looks at the clock and adopts a mock stern expression.

Lily laughs. "I can't be in that much trouble," she says. "No one else is back, either. Where are they?"

"Perdita went to see if she could borrow the new issue of Young Witch from someone, Mary is brushing her teeth, and Raquel came to get Cliona. Joanna had some kind of night-before-the-match panic attack."

"Must be going around," Lily says, mostly to herself.

Or at least, that was the intent.

"What's going around?" Cliona asks, arriving with her usual impeccable sense of timing.

"Nothing," Lily says, just as Glynis says, "Quidditch panic attacks."

"Who's having a panic attack?" Cliona says.

"No one," Lily says. "How's Joanna?"

"She's all right," Cliona says. "I think. She went to bed early, you know, good night's sleep before the match, and woke up an hour later screaming. She had a nightmare about Quaffles with teeth."

"Quaffles with teeth?" Lily asks.

"Really mean ones," Cliona says.

For a moment, the three of them look at each other, and then they all start laughing.

"We really shouldn't laugh," Glynis says.

"No, of course not," Lily says.

"She was very upset," Cliona adds.

"But ... Quaffles," Glynis says.

"With teeth," Lily finishes, and they all start laughing again.

For a moment, Lily hopes that this has proven to be a sufficient distraction from anyone else's pre-Quidditch nerves.

But ... well, it's Cliona.

"So, who else is worried?" she asks, settling cross-legged on her bed.

"It's nothing," Lily says.

"What's nothing?" Mary asks, coming into the room. Perdita is right behind her.

"Nothing is nothing," Lily says.

"How profound," Perdita says, airily, and Lily throws a pillow at her.

"Well, obviously it's James," Cliona says, rationally. "It would have to be. Who else would it be?"

Mary's eyes widen a little, and she turns to Lily. "Wait. What about James Potter? Do you have a date with him or something?"

"No, that's not what we're talking about," Cliona says. "Lily said someone else had Quidditch nerves, and if it were a Hufflepuff she'd probably tell us who it was, and we know it wasn't Joanna or Raquel, and she doesn't know Eugene or Aurelius or ... " Cliona trails off, getting a good look at Lily's face. "And you do, don't you? You're going to go out with James, aren't you?"

Lily rather uselessly tries to will her face back to a color not usually found in poppies and strawberries. "Well, actually, yes. I am."

All four of her roommates stare at her. Glynis' skirt carries on hemming itself.

"Well, you might have told us," Perdita says. "We are your best friends."

"I was going to," Lily says. "I just didn't have a chance. He only asked me a few minutes ago."

"He asked you just now?" Cliona says. "Lily, it's the night before a match. You've probably completely destroyed his concentration."

"Well, probably not as badly as she would have if she'd said 'no' again," Mary says, practically.

"That's not why you said 'yes,' is it?" Cliona asks.

"Of course not," Lily says.

"Why did you say 'yes' this time?" Glynis asks.

"I guess I got tired of saying 'no,'" Lily says, and then nods at Glynis' skirt. "That's going to be a belt before much longer," she says.

Glynis turns to her skirt, gasps, and waves her wand to end the hemming charm.

Cliona slides off the end of her bed, pulls her dressing gown on over her pajamas, and heads for the bedroom door.

"Where are you going?" Lily asks.

"Just need to check on something," Cliona says. "Back in moment."

"She's going to talk to James, isn't she?" Lily says.

"Probably," Mary says.

"And she's going to blame me if they lose tomorrow, isn't she?" Lily asks, mostly kidding.

"Probably not," Mary says, with mock uncertainty. She comes over to sit next to Lily, taking both her hands, and looking her in the eye. "But if you are going to go out with James Potter, you have to promise us all one thing," Mary says.

"What's that?" Lily asks.

"That you will never, ever, for any reason, start addressing him as 'Jamesikins.'" Mary says, and they both have to dodge the pillow Perdita throws at them.

Lily, brushing her hair Monday morning, stops, focuses on her reflection in the mirror, and smiles.

It's one of those rare, lovely days when her hair falls exactly as it's supposed to, the way neither mechanical or magical means can ever quite achieve. It just has to happen. And it has.

She leaves it down, over her shoulders, even though she has Potions later today, and it'll mean making sure she doesn't accidentially drag her hair into a cauldron or anything like that. Because rare, lovely days when her hair falls exactly as it's supposed to are not to be wasted on plaits.

She leaves Gryffindor Tower in a good mood, which she is not going to let anything change, she decides, not even Perdita's ongoing whinge (three days and counting) about Black 'abandoning' her Friday night to go off with his friends and then spending most of Saturday 'hiding' in his room instead of making it up to her, and then telling her on Sunday to just leave him bloody alone for fifteen minutes, would she?

(Lily had looked up at the huge, round moon hanging in the sky on Friday, and remembered the discussion she used to have with Severus on a near monthly basis -- he's ill; they say he's ill -- and said nothing.)

In short, she feels pretty and witty and bright, on Monday morning, and she takes it as a good sign for the coming day and week.

The mood lasts through breakfast, even when Perdita and Black have a terribly overdone 'reunion' and Cliona rolls her eyes so hard Lily half-expects to have to take to her the hospital wing because she's somehow sprained them.

And then, in Charms, Lily freezes, for just a second. It's the feeling that her mother talks about as someone having walked over her grave. Lily looks around the room, wondering what out what caused it, and then decides she's being silly.

She can't quite shake the feeling, though. The hairs on the back of her neck are ever so slightly on end.

It isn't until lunch that she figures it out.

Well, more correctly, Glynis figures it out.

"Severus Snape is staring at you," she says, frowning, as she passes Lily the pitcher of pumpkin juice.

Cliona looks up, eyes narrowed. "Yes, he is," she says.

"Maybe he's just looking in this general direction," Lily says. She has sat with her back to the Slytherin table at every meal this year.

"No, he's definitely staring," Cliona says.

"It's creepy," Glynis says.

Lily, without really meaning to, turns to look over her shoulder.

Her eyes meet his -- he looks neither down nor away -- just for a second, and then she turns back to her friends. "It's nothing," she says. "Just ignore him."

It makes her skin crawl, though.

He's staring at her like ... like he knows exactly what she's thinking.

(But then, he probably does. They were good friends for a long time. She hasn't changed that much since she last spoke to him, has she?)

It's almost a relief when Perdita drops into the seat on the other side of Mary's a moment later, completely oblivious to anything involving anyone at the Slytherin table, having un-reunited with Black and in the mood to talk about it.

Lily excuses herself from lunch earlier than usual, and locks herself in the girls' lavatory, which is such a cliche she's almost ashamed of the decision, but he can't follow her there.

(Not that he really has been following her -- Charms is as much his class as hers, everyone has lunch at the same time. What's she supposed to do? Tell him off for looking at her?)

She thinks about staying there through Potions -- it's such a small class, and he'll be there -- but she's not the sort to skive off classes. Besides, she's not about to let Severus Snape keep her from attending her best class. Not today, not ever.

She's very nearly late, though, arriving just as Slughorn is closing the door, because she doesn't want any time to hang around waiting for something to happen. She barely responds to Slughorn's cheerful greeting. She responds less than that to the one from Potter, just sets up her things at the other end of the work table they've been sharing for the last month, and gets to work.

She does not turn around to look and see if Severus is in his usual spot, at the back of the room, with the other Slytherins.

She doesn't look around at all.

And she's very glad she left her hair down this morning.

It gives her something to hide behind.

As Lily expected, she and Potter attracted absolutely no attention from his best friend and her roommate. (Which is definitely for the best. It would have been horridly awkward, and she doesn't really want to know what either Black or Perdita would have to say about her coming into the common room after hours and hand-in-hand with James Potter.)

Her room, when she reaches it, is just about as deserted as the common room. Mary's combing out her hair with Queen playing on the record player, but there's no one else there. Of course, Lily knew Perdita wasn't going to be there, and Cliona would have walked back from Slughorn's with Fenton, which means she could be out for a while yet.

"Where's Glynis?" Lily asks.

"She went to take a shower," Mary says. "She should be back in five or ten minutes, I'd think."

"And, um, have you two seen Perdita this evening?"

"Sure," Mary says. "We were all down in the common room, but Glynis and I came up about a half an hour ago. Perdita said she had one or two things left to take care of."

"So it would seem," Lily mutters.

"Didn't you come past her when you came in?" Mary asks, turning away from the mirror. "Lily, is something wrong?"

"No, not exactly," Lily says, but before she can explain further, the door flies open and in comes Cliona.

"Did you see?" she asks.

"Yeah," Lily says.

"Did you know?" Cliona asks.

"Of course not," Lily says. "And neither did Potter."

"Know what?" Mary asks.

Cliona and Lily exchange glances, and then Lily says, "Perdita's down in the common room right now attempting to suck the face off of Sirius Black."

"What, Perdita and Black?" Mary says. "Are they dating?"

"Don't know," Lily says.

"But they're definitely snogging," Cliona says. "Like they're revising for an OWL in it or something. Fenton's down there telling them off because Sirius had her shirt halfway undone. In the middle of the common room."

Lily frowns, and is suddenly very glad she and Potter didn't spend any more time talking out in the corridor before going in.

"We've got to tell Glynis, don't you think?" Lily asks. "Before she hears it from someone else?"

"Tell me what?" Glynis asks, and they all jump, because no one heard the door open. "Tell me what?" she repeats, when none of them starts talking.

Mary's record reaches the end of the last song, and the record spins for a moment playing nothing but end-of-the-side skips, before the arm rises and goes back to its starting place.

"It's about Perdita," Cliona says, finally.

"And Sirius Black," Mary says.

"It looks like they might be ... "

"Snogging again?" Glynis asks.

"Again?" Cliona says. "What d'you mean 'again'?"

"I saw them yesterday," Glynis says, with a shrug. "They were in the Charms classroom, but they didn't think to close the door. I went past."

"Why didn't you say something?" Lily asks.

"To them?" Glynis asks, clearly startled by the idea.

"No, to us," Cliona says.

"What would I have said?" Glynis says. "It's Perdita's news, isn't it?"

"But you fancy him, Glynis," Mary says, very gently.

And they all know it.

Glynis shrugs again. "I don't fancy him. I just had a bit of a crush on him last year, that's all. It's completely in the past," she says, but she doesn't quite manage to sell it. "Anyway, I just came back for my toothbrush. I forgot it. Don't worry about me. I'm fine, really. I'm just going to go brush my teeth."

"If it's 'completely in the past,' I'll quit the Quidditch team," Cliona says, darkly, after Glynis has left.

"We shouldn't push her, though," Mary says. "Maybe she really is all right with it. And maybe it's for the best."

"How's it for the best?" Cliona asks.

"Well, she's been a bit hung up on him, hasn't she? For a good long while. Maybe this'll make her move on. I mean ... I feel horrible about saying this, but ... it's not really like Sirius Black was ever going to ask Glynis out, is it?" Mary says.

And that's hard to argue with, because it's all true.

"Though I can't say I ever saw him with Perdita, either," Lily says.

"Or Perdita with him. She's lost her mind," Cliona says. "Don't get me wrong, I like Sirius. But he's not exactly boyfriend material, is he?"

"Guess he's good at snogging, though," Lily says, dryly.

There's a moment's silence, and then they all laugh, even though it wasn't really all that funny.

"Did I miss a joke?" Perdita asks, as she comes into the room. She looks a bit rumpled -- what's left of her lipstick is smeared, her hair is messed up, and the buttons are mismatched on the top half of her shirt.

"Hello, Perdita," Cliona says. "Anything you'd like to tell us?"

"Don't think so," Perdita says.

"Maybe about you and Black?" Lily suggests.

"Oh, that," Perdita says, reaching for her hairbrush to begin undoing the damage to her hair. "Yeah, I'm going out with Sirius Black."

"And how did that happen?" Mary asks.

"It just happened, you know. We were talking in Muggle Studies, and then we were flirting in Muggle Studies, and then he asked me and I said yes. Simple as that."

"And what about Glynis?" Cliona asks.

"What about Glynis?" Perdita asks. "She hasn't got anything to do with it."

"Expect that she fancies him and you're supposed to be one of her best friends," Lily says.

"Please, it's not like I stole her boyfriend," Perdita says. "She has a silly little crush on him, that's all. And he's not interested in her and he is interested in me. So, what, I was supposed to say no just because someone has a little crush that is never going to be anything but a little crush?"

"You could have been a little more discreet about it, at least," Lily says. "You could have told her, before she found out by seeing you two."

"Yeah? So tell me, Lily, if one of us had a little crush on James Potter, would that stop you?"

"Stop me from what? I'm not dating James Potter."

"It's nothing but a matter of time, though, isn't it?" Perdita asks. "And when you finally stop mucking about there, and say yes to him, you're not going to stop to worry about whether or not Cliona fancies him."

"Which I don't," Cliona says. "Ew. It would be like fancying my brother Liam."

"Fine, if Mary did, then," Perdita says. "The point's the same."

"We're not talking about me," Lily says. "And we're certainly not talking about Potter. We're talking about you."

"No, we're not. Look, I'm sorry if Glynis got her feelings hurt, but I haven't done anything wrong, and I don't have anything else to say about it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wash my face."

Perdita sweeps back out of the room, with her shirt still misbuttoned.

Cliona, Mary, and Lily look at each other.

"I'd better go check on Glynis," Mary says. "She's been gone for too long, if she's just brushing her teeth."

"Would it have stopped you?" Lily asks Cliona, when they're alone in the room. "Would you have gone out with Fenton if one of us had fancied him?"

"Yeah, I would have," Cliona says, after a second. "But I would have talked to whichever of you it was about it before we were snogging in the common room."

"Yeah."

"What about you? Would it stop you?"

"What, if one of you'd fancied Jeremy Flourish?" Lily asks, laughing a little.

"No, if one of us fancied James."

"I don't know," Lily says, after several seconds. "Maybe. Maybe not."

She's certainly let a friend's opinion influence that decision in the past. She's not sure she would in the future.

"None of you do, though, do you?" Lily asks.

"Like going out with Liam," Cliona says again, pulling a face.

"Who Mary had a terrible crush on, fourth year, if you'll remember."

"Fair enough," Cliona says. "But no, as far as I know, the only one of us with a crush on James is you, Lily."

"I do not have a crush on Potter," Lily says.

It's not a 'crush.'

Lily's not sure what it is, any more, but it's not a 'crush.'

Lily has noticed that she hasn't exactly been left alone today.

Her roommates had stuck around her for breakfast and on the way Hogsmeade Station.

Fenton Blane has followed her up and down the aisles of the Hogwarts Express, as she's taken her turns at patroling the corridors. And when he wasn't there, she's seen Sheldon Whelan (Hufflepuff, seventh year) and Iphigenia McGraw (Ravenclaw, sixth year) keeping in close proximity.

Lily both finds it kind of reassuring to know that her fellow prefects are keeping a wary eye on things ... and incredibly worrisome that they appear to think it's necessary.

(With a half-dozen notable exceptions, of course. She passes Marcellus Nott, the seventh year Slytherin prefect, at one point and he leers at her in a way that makes Lily very glad her wand is already in her hand. And that Lettie Lewis, the Head Girl, turns up at that moment to ask "All right, Nott?" and he vanishes back into his compartment.)

Lily looks back over her shoulder and sees Sheldon.

"I'm going to take a break," she tells him.

He nods. "You want to come back to the prefects' compartment?"

"Actually, I think I'm going to go find my roommates. But I'll be back in a bit."

"Be careful," he tells her, and Lily nods and starts back down the corridor.

"Have you gone completely mad?" Perdita demands, slamming into their room.

All four of her roommates look up, then look at each other.

It's Cliona who asks, "And just which of us are you questioning the sanity of?"

"Lily, of course," Perdita says. "D'you know what they're saying downstairs?"

Mary, Cliona, and Glynis look from Perdita to Lily.

Lily takes a second to wish the floor would open up and swallow her. And then she marks her place in her Transfiguration book, closes it, and says, very calmly, "Given your reaction, I suspect they're saying I'm going to Professor Slughorn's party with Severus."

"What?"

"Lily!"

"Snape?"

"I told you," Perdita says. "Completely mad."

"Perdita, shut up," Cliona says. And then turns to Lily. "Seriously, though, have you gone mad?"

"Yes, the fact that I'm going to a party with a friend makes me a raving lunatic."

"You're going on a date with Severus Snape?" Glynis asks. "Why?"

"No, it's not a date."

"It sounds like a date," Glynis says.

"Well, it's not. We're just going as friends. It's no different than when I went with Cliona's brother at Christmas. You didn't all jump down my throat then."

"That's because it is different," Mary says. "Liam's not -- "

"What? A Slytherin?"

"Yeah, a Slytherin," Mary says. "I know you don't like it, Lily, but that doesn't mean it's not true. It is different, and you know it."

"Have you forgotten what they did to Mary last term?" Perdita asks.

"No, of course not," Lily says. Mary has dropped her eyes to the floor, arms crossed tight across her chest. "You know I haven't, Mary, and I won't, but ... but that wasn't Sev!"

"No, it was just his friends," Cliona says.

"He has terrible friends, Lily," Glynis says. "They're all really creepy. Except for you, of course."

"Well, thank you, Glynis," Lily says, a little tartly.

"Don't take this out on Glynis," Perdita says.

"I'm not taking anything out on Glynis!" Lily snaps.

The room is silent for a moment, and all four of Lily's roommate stare at her.

Lily takes a breath.

"I'm sorry, Glynis," Lily says.

"It's all right," she says.

"Look," Lily says, more calmly. "I know none of you like him. You've all made that very clear for years now."

"Lily, it's not that we don't like him," Mary says.

"Speak for yourself," Perdita cuts in. "I can't stand him."

"It's just that there are things about him that worry us," Mary says, ignoring Perdita's interruption.

"Like who he chooses to spend his time with," Cliona says.

"Other than you," Glynis adds.

"And the sorts of things they do," Mary says.

"And the fact that they're slimy," Perdita says.

"Creepy," Glynis says.

"Mean-spirited," Mary adds.

"And using Dark Magic. And you know it," Cliona finishes.

"I ... Severus has been one of my best friends since I was nine," Lily says.

"And maybe he was, when you were nine," Cliona says.

"But are you sure he still is?" Glynis says.

"Yes, of course I am," Lily says, even though she realizes that if she were, that answer would have been four words shorter than it was.

"Lily -- " says Cliona.

"Would you all please just stop?" Lily asks.

She hates this, hates feeling like this, hates having to defend one friend to all the others, over and over and over again.

Hates that she's starting to wonder if they might not be right. Hates that she's even entertaining that notion.

Hates that she's ignoring it, too.

Mary comes over, sits down next to Lily, and puts her arm around Lily's shoulders. "Lily, we're not trying to upset you. We're just afraid you're going to get really hurt."

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to a party with a friend. That's all. It's not a big deal."

Cliona sighs. "I really hope you're right about that."

"Me, too," Glynis adds.

"For the record, I'm fairly certain you're wrong," Perdita says.

"Perdita!" Mary says.

"Well, I am. I'm sorry, but I think the sooner you see him for what he is, what he really is, the better it's going to be for all of us, and especially you."

"Perdita, that's enough," Cliona says.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."